Next-Generation ERAU Advanced Research Lab (NEAR Lab)

The Next-Generation Advanced Research (NEAR) Lab is a for-hire research facility located on the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Committed to maintaining its high quality consulting services, the NEAR Lab staff carries out applied research with avionics companies, aircraft manufacturers, communications providers, commercial airlines, and governmental agencies such as NASA and the FAA.

The NEAR Lab has a cadre of internationally recognized specialists in ATM research who are supported by graduate and undergraduate students from various departments.

The NEAR Lab staff conducts human-in-the-loop studies and evaluations, as well as fast time and real-time computer simulations that provide insights and solutions to our customers' questions.

NEAR Lab resources allow its staff to utilize sophisticated modeling tools such as TAAM, TARGETS, and SDAT to simulate airspace and airport systems so as to provide insight on runway incursions, airport capacity, efficiency, and other relevant future ATM issues.

In addition, the NEAR Lab has conducted cost benefit analyses that identified potential solutions to reduce both in-flight and ground ops fuel costs and emissions.

The NEAR Lab was one of the first U.S. users of the Total Airspace and Airport Modeler (TAAM). Our associates are amongst the highest qualified users of TAAM in the world who train professionals in the use of TAAM for airport and en route airspace modeling. The NEAR Lab has conducted numerous projects for the FAA, various airports, and airline services.

The NEAR Lab has developed a Real-Time Distributed Simulator (RTDS) that can support "human-in-the-loop" simulations. The RTDS is built around a detailed object model, and its software and functional architecture are entirely object oriented. This provides an extraordinarily efficient simulation that easily simulates the entire traffic of the continental United States. Additionally, RTDS has the capability to interact with Aviation SimNet.

The NEAR Lab has also amassed an immense amount of data from the world meteorological network and the Air Situation Display Information (ASDI) that encompasses NAS Host flight plan data and ADS-B data. Years of experience in data mining and processing this traffic and weather data has allowed the NEAR Lab to generate valuable information from the raw data.

The Next Generation Air Transport System is anambitious program to transform the nation's air traffic management system from the current ground radar-based command and control system. The FAA has contracted with Embry-Riddle to conduct NextGen research and demonstrations, with the majority of these efforts conducted at the Florida NextGen Test Bed on the Daytona Beach International Airport. The overall goalis to provide proof of concept and early implementation of NextGen technologies and systems concepts.

Lab Information

Location: Advanced Flight Simulation Building (Bldg. 10), Room 101Contact Us: To speak to someone about this lab or any of our facilities, call us at 386-226-7019, or email castroc@erau.edu.